Sad Sundays

The Browns have played nine games this season, checking in to the next game on the schedule with a 3-6 record. 

One of those games was played on a Thursday night at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers on national television, Ditto for a Monday night game, again at home, against the Cincinnati Bengals, and again on national TV. The Browns won both games. 

Playing on national television at home to a national audience on a non-Sunday seems to agree them.  Playing on Sunday definitely does not. After winning the season opener on a Sunday against Carolina on the road thanks to a miracle field goal, the Browns are winless on Sundays, including the last six in a row.

Eight games remain on the regular-season schedule, including a weather- and venue-changing date in Detroit against the Buffalo Bills, who lost a home game to a blizzard in the midst of a surprising two-game slump. 

On a Sunday. This Sunday.

One would think the neutral site under a dome would benefit the Browns, who make the Bills' woes look mild by comparison as they try to figure out how to break out of a rut that has seen them lose five of the last six games.

What the Browns do best on offense is run the football. A snow-covered field would negate any edge they would have on the Buffalo defense. Running on artificial turf at Ford Field evens the field somewhat, especially if head coach Kevin Stefanski ever decides to turn Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt and the solid offensive line loose on a sustained basis.

There is a glimmer, though. A close look at how the Bills have fared against run this season shows they have been awful the last three games, which produced only one victory. After allowing just 76 yards a game in the first six weeks, when they were 5-1, they have been gouged for 176 yards per in the last three.

You'd think that, too, would favor the Browns, but again you have to take into consideration Stefanski is still trying to turn Jacoby Brissett into Deshaun Watson and that spells impending disaster. Only two weeks left until Stefanski deals with the genuine article.

All you need to know about the Bills is it makes no difference what the playing conditions are. They are among the National Football League's elite teams, verging royalty with a superb offense and choking defense, their recent problems against the run notwithstanding.

Only the 30-points-a-game Kansas City Chiefs score more than Buffalo. Josh Allen, arguably the best quarterback from the 2018 college football draft (Baltimore's Lamar Jackson has the best argument there), pretty much is the entire offense. His stats are gaudy.

The Bills have scored 28 touchdowns on offense this season; Allen is responsible for all but four with 20 scoring passes and half of their eight touchdowns on the ground. His 476 yards leads the team in that category.

The Bills overall have recorded 3,817 yards of offense in the nine games. That's 424 a game. Allen's 3,209 yards represents an astounding 84% of those yards. He's getting most of his help from wide receivers Stefon Diggs (72 receptions, 985 yards, 7 TD), Gabe Davis (24, 544, 5) and Isaiah McKenzie ((24, 219, 3).

That's what the maddeningly inconsistent Cleveland defense must face. But they'll also face a quarterback who is damaged and uncharacteristically careless with the football the last few weeks. Allen has thrown six of his 10 interceptions and been sacked nine times in the last three games.

To make matters worse, he suffered an injury to the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm in a loss to the New York Jets a couple of weeks ago. That's Tommy John surgery territory. It didn't stop him last week, however. He was 29-of-43 for 330 yards in an overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings. 

The Browns, meanwhile, got healthier this week. Wyatt Teller, who tried to play through a calf injury last week and lasted just 11 snaps, is back again at right guard, and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, who has missed the last two games with a knee, returns at outside linebacker. Tight end David Njoku is listed as questionable.

It will be interesting to see if Stefanski will try to take advantage of the Bills' recent impotence against the ground game. He prefers sustained drives to keep quick-strike offenses like the Bills' on the bench as much as possible. Or will he foolishly rely on Jacoby Brissett to end this losing madness?

Look for Allen's recent habit of throwing passes to the opposition to end at least for this game. No team is, or should be, afraid of the Cleveland secondary. In addition to their own problems against the run, the Browns' pass rush is playing hide and seek this season.

They have dropped opposing quarterbacks just 19 times. Nine of those sacks were accrued in victories over Carolina and Cincinnati. Myles Garrett, who missed one game due to injuries sustained in a car crash, has 7.5 of the team total. The other 11.5 are divided among 12 players. 

Even though neither team has home-field advantage, this one is shaping up as the final nail of a clean sweep of the Browns by the AFC East. The Bills, even with their recent difficulties, are clearly the better team. Besides, it's being played on a Sunday. That means the Browns go down to their seventh straight Sunday loss and sixth loss in the last seven games overall, pretty much ending the playoff quest. Make it:

Bills 34, Browns 20